Music

Brainlove Festival: Octagon Court

Luke Morgan Britton | Friday 18 May, 2012 18:45

Octagon Court are an arty electronic duo from New Cross that sound like Bryan Ferry messing around with home-studio software. Live, however, they are more like Ferry having a seizure. And they’re a band that just have to be seen live – not only as much in a “one not to miss!” tipster sense but in the way that it’ll save me the challenge of having to describe them.

The band say their performances have been called “sermonic” (is that a word?), while they themselves say that they also “try to piss people off”. Either way, they’re as much a spectacle of theatrical uneasiness as they are a band. “The sounds and lyrics so each song becomes an aesthetic situation,” they say. And believe us, they really do.

We spoke to Octagon Court in advance of their performance at Brainlove Festival in Brixton on May 26th.

Could you introduce a little about yourself first and foremost?
We are Octagon Court, we are a musical duo, we were visual artists. We went all weird though.

For people who haven’t seen you live before, what can they expect?
People have commented on the excessive amount of energy involved in our live performance. There are also certain rituals and forms we have created to house the sounds and lyrics so each song becomes an aesthetic situation. My brother said there was something sermonic in the performance – that’s a combination of ritual and a real emphasis on the lyrics. I’m not a poet however.

Have you played or even been to the Brainlove Festival prior to this year?
Yes, in fact we opened last year.

How was it before? What do you think makes it unique?
We had just got off a three-hour coach journey from Norwich where we were living at the time. We remember trying to quaff as much whisky as we could before going on. Kreatiivmootor made it unique.

Looking at the line-up, who are you excited about seeing live?
It looks a really varied and exciting line up. I’m really interested to see Keel Her. And Mat Riviere is well good.

How do you find festivals in general? Do you prefer smaller venue shows?
We’ve not played that many festivals but smaller shows seem to complement the intensity of what we are trying to get across. Big stages are good but we usually employ other aesthetic elements – dancers or props to engage with the space.

Do you enjoy the prospect of people that necessarily aren’t that familiar with your music getting the chance to stumble upon you?
Yes very much so. I also like pissing the right people off.

Could you tell us a little bit about the track you chose to give away as a free download?
‘Bring Her In’ actually refers to the imagined idea that the Titanic had reached America and the Americans are bringing ‘her’ in. I wrote that song when I realised I loved nature more than my girlfriend at the time.

What do your band have going on at the moment? Anything you’re working on or forthcoming releases in the works?
We have just released a music video which is available to view on our website and this video streaming site called YouTube (or above). We are working on an EP with Ollie Horton, aka Dreamtrak, which we are releasing next month.

Tickets & Lineup Info for Brainlove 2012 at: www.brainloverecords.com/festival.

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